I Wish... (Inspired From A True Story)

The Wishlist

Back in Time

"Hi!" I greeted him suddenly getting into his room. He was busy writing something and listening to my voice suddenly startled him. He turned and sighed.

"You scared me idiot!" he turned to greet me. "How have you been?"

"Usual!" I clasped his hand.

"When is your exam starting?" he asked. I saw him keeping a diary in the book shelf. He carefully picked up three books and kept the diary between the stack, as if he doesn't want anyone to see it. I saw him getting conscious with me around. I pretended to look at the magazine at his study table instead.

"Soon. Last year exams were tough but this year is not easy either." I answered shuffling the pages of the magazine. He kept the three books back over the diary and turned.

"Uh... I usually forget where I keep my books. So I place it in a particular order to be able to find it quickly." He explained his act. I knew something was off with him. And I had to see what was in there.

"Nonnie seems to be less interested in studies." I changed the subject, "like Jom. He too hardly studies."

"Yeah they are pampered!" he said with a pout. It's hilarious how he gets offended about being the elder one who needs to be responsible.

"Non... Non come here fast." Aunt Ning called him.

"I'll be right back." He said and left the room.

This was my chance. I immediately jumped on the other side of the bed near the book shelf. I carefully pulled out the diary from beneath the three books and hid it behind me tucked in my jeans. I covered it with my t-shirt and jumped back to the other side. I heard footsteps approaching the room, and I quickly took the magazine again in my hand and took 2 deep breaths to calm my breathing.

"You seem to like that magazine a lot." He teased me entering the room with a tray containing some chips, cookies and juice, "Mom sent this for her Panda!" he teased sticking his tongue out.

"Funny!" I grimaced. I made sure to stay calm and still to not disclose my discomfort the diary was causing. It was the first time I had seen him hiding something from me and I had to find out what it was. We talked about a lot of things including family pressure over grades, latest syllabus and difference of options, open in future for various stream students. He was always an intelligent guy but unlike his dad's wish for being a doctor, he was only interested in computers and music.

Later in the evening, I returned home and had dinner with my family. Exams were due in a week and so nobody used to waste time in talking much. Jom anyway used to have hard time studying. I, on the other hand, like to study. Once back in my room, I took out the diary from my bag that I had hidden in immediately after leaving his home. It seemed to be an old diary with very few pages left to be filled.

Mostly, it was about how his dad is always supportive, his mom being a hard working house wife and how his sister always irritates him. I chuckled over his stories about how he falls and slips in the impossible situations and embarrasses himself. There were stories about me too. It seems like, I was his only friend. He wrote about me to be like an all-rounder personality. The person who can irritate him the most, and also the one who supports him the most. For him I am important. More important than I knew. I felt happy reading about myself in his diary. I was happy knowing he thinks of me like I do for him.

But I know for me he is the most important person of my life. He sees the human side of me. The real me. Others just see me as the guy who is pampered and naturally intelligent, an all-rounder who doesn't need to worry about anything. But he knows, how much hard I work on myself, to achieve all this. He knows my dreams. And I am able to discuss it all with him without worrying about being judged. I am sometimes able to talk to my parents about my feelings but sometimes they understand and sometimes they don't. Chaplin talks rubbish all the time but when he listens to me, I am able to talk my heart out. And he knows what I would like to hear at the end of the conversation. He may then again start blabbering bullshit later. But for that moment he becomes the best diary of the world for me.